Organic Gypsy issues invitation to dinner on the farm

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, August 15, 2013

The owner of the big blue food truck that feeds organic food lovers at festivals and other events throughout the area is planning an elegant dining event that will showcase produce fresh from the farm.

Bridgett Blough, The Organic Gypsy, recently relocated from Benton Harbor to Kalamazoo, and opened a kitchen that will serve as the center of planning for events like the farm visit. (It also will be hosting other events, pop up dinners, and retail sales.) The dinner on the farm will be completely sourced from local and organic farms just as the food served from the Organic Gypsy food truck is.

Blough's excitement about the event comes through as she discusses plans that have been in the works for several months for what she describes as not just a meal but as an experience. Attendees will dine inside the barn with live music performed in the rafters. Details such as special candles, lights, and draping fabric to add elegant touches the barn are being worked out.

For the multi-course farm dinner, Blough will team with Karla Richards, known locally for her 20 years of work in local kitchens such as Water Street Coffee Joint, Food Dance, and Martini's. In preparing for the event, Blough sought out other women to work with, a way of supporting one another in the primarily male dominated food industry.

To make sure that even the beverages have a special flair, Angie Jackson, the Traveling Elixir Fixer, will be making signature cocktails with Journeyman Spirits. The dinner will also feature complimentary sample pairings from Journeyman Distillery.

The event also gives Blough a chance to prepare foods that are not practical for her to serve from the food truck. For example, she is exploring ways to make her own butter, and to create a reduction sauce from plumbs that could be used in the cocktails being tasted at the event.

Other ways the dinner will be different from others is that before the meal guests will be encouraged to mingle with one another and there will be an educational component to the evening as the farm food came from is described, the cooking methods used are explained and information is shared on the beverage it is paired with.

"I envision a space that brings people together through the wonderful harvest of our local bounty, creating links between people, health, food and the face of food--our local farmers," says Blough.

The menu still is being developed, but early ideas are that it will include at least three meats: pork, goat, and chicken.

Each course will be paired with either a microbrew or a spirit concoction and explanations on pairings will be provided for each course. Spirits will be from the Journeyman Distillery and beer from The Livery.

Journeyman Distillery is an Organic Spirits Distillery, in Three Oaks. Journeyman Distillery offers artisan spirits with a focus on whiskey. Beverages from The Livery, a woman-owned business located in the Arts District of downtown Benton Harbor, also will be served. The Livery, features 12 taps of “Hand-Forged Microbrew,” and 2 Real Ale taps.

Eater’s Guild Farm, Aaron Molter Family Orchards, Roseland Organic Farms, Big Head Farms, and Tower Hill Farms -- all certified organic farms -- will be supported by the dinner. It will be at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at Eater’s Guild Farm in Bangor.

Tickets are $100 and can be purchased here.

"Everyone will go home satisfied," Blough says. "No one will leave hungry, or thirsty or wanting more of anything."

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Bridget Blough, The Organic Gypsy